Day: March 26, 2022

Jakarta Increasing access to clean water and proper sanitation facilities could suppress the rate of stunting in children, according to Vice President Ma’ruf Amin.

“Several factors contribute to efforts to reduce stunting, including environmental health, especially related to sanitation and the availability of proper drinking water,” Amin noted at the Vice President’s official residence here on Saturday.

He remarked that the government had aimed at increasing access to drinking water and proper sanitation facilities in an effort to reduce the rate of stunting.

Amin delivered the statement during the third online meeting of the Association of Indonesian Environmental Health Experts.

They targeted 100 percent of the households to have access to safe drinking water by 2024 and 90 percent of households to have access to proper sanitation facilities.

The goal was stipulated in Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021 on the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction.

Amin noted that in the last three years, the coverage of adequate drinking water facilities had risen by 1.5 percent and the coverage of proper sanitation had increased by 2.9 percent, so the percentage of households with access to proper drinking water had reached 90.7 percent, while households with access to proper sanitation facilities had reached about 80.2 percent.

He urged everyone to commit to this goal, as only two years were left in realizing it.

The government is striving to pursue this, as these nutritional problems could stagnate efforts to develop human resources and cause economic issues.

The vice president explained that stunting compromised the intelligence and cognitive abilities apart from disrupting the metabolism, thereby making its sufferers prone to non-communicable diseases, such as heart diseases and diabetes. These would affect productivity in the future, he stated.

Stunting also caused economic losses, as it took up two to three percent of the state’s GDP, he remarked.

In Indonesia, stunting-related issues caused annual losses to the tune of some Rp300 trillion.

The vice president stated that the government was striving to reduce the stunting rate — currently standing at 24.4 percent — to 14 percent in 2024.

“This means that in the next two years or so, we must be able to reduce the prevalence of stunting by more than 10 percent,” he stated.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4) agreed on aspects concerning effectiveness evaluation, including forming a scientific agency, Environment and Forestry Ministry’s official Rosa Vivien Ratnawati stated.

“Effectiveness evaluation points have been agreed upon, though there are several aspects that have to be adjusted based on the nation’s input,” she noted.

“There are difficulties while discussing issues, such as how many experts can be sent per region,” Ratnawati remarked during the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4.2) Closing Ceremony virtual press conference on Saturday.

Effectiveness evaluation is a framework that determines the evaluation procedures toward Convention regulation and steps that nations take to realize the Minamata Convention’s goal.

Several matters had been agreed upon concerning effectiveness evaluation, including the business process framework and the agreement to form a scientific agency named the Open-ended Scientific Group (OESG).

This aims to ensure that the process can still carry on despite the advisory group not being formed.

During the COP-4, in addition to effectiveness evaluation, a decision had also been adopted concerning the amendment of Attachment A and B on products that contain mercury and processes that utilize mercury.

It had been decided that 10 types of products contain mercury that can be phased out, Ratnawati explained.

However, the use of four types of products that contain mercury should be reviewed at COP-5 in Genewa, Switzerland.

The Minamata Convention COP-4, held on March 21-25 in Bali, also managed to unveil the Bali Declaration to prevent illegal mercury trade.

With this non-binding declaration, it is expected that the issue of illegal mercury trade can be mainstreamed, and it also encourages cooperation at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels.

Source: Antara News

This Bali Declaration became an instrument and a catalyst in fulfilling or implementing the Minamata convention.

Jakarta The Bali Declaration, made to declare war on illegal mercury trade and adopted within the Minamata Convention COP-4, became an instrument to implement the convention, Head of the Indonesian delegation Muhsin Syihab stated.

“This Bali Declaration became an instrument and a catalyst in fulfilling or implementing the Minamata convention,” Syihab noted during the COP-4.2 Minamata Convention on Mercury Closing Ceremony virtual press conference on Saturday.

“Secondly, this Bali Declaration became a proof of the political will and good will from all parties to execute the Minamata Convention and also to fight against the illegal mercury trade,” he remarked.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s expert staff stated that all nations from various regions give their support to the Bali Declaration, which is the first declaration within the Minamata Convention COP.

The Bali Declaration also serves as a sign that Indonesia not only acts as the host of the Minamata Convention COP-4 but also actively contributes in fighting illegal mercury trade.

Earlier, the Bali Declaration was officially unveiled and adopted within the Minamata Convention COP-4 in Bali on March 21, 2022.

Several main points within the non-binding declaration include encouraging international cooperation in law enforcement and monitoring as well as conducive and possible policies, regulations, in addition to other internal actions.

Source: Antara News

Jakarta Investment to improve the quality of human resources is highly important within the scope of the manpower development process, Minister of Manpower Ida Fauziyah noted in a statement on Saturday.

One of the priority targets for national development for the 2019-2024 period is increasing investment.

“To this end, investment to improve the quality of human resources is very important for the manpower development process,” Fauziyah noted at the Pasker ID Goes to Campus and University Communication Forum for Manpower Management Inauguration (Forkomtinag) events in Surabaya, East Java, on Friday.

Investment is crucial as it creates jobs, expands technology and knowledge transfer opportunities, strengthens the quality of human resources, encourages an increase in productivity, and contributes to the national economic growth.

One of the forms of investment to improve the quality of human resources is through quality education at universities, the minister noted.

This is because quality university graduates tend to have higher productivity and provide a bigger contribution to the economy.

“Hence, we have to continue to make university as one of the focus areas in the process of improving the quality of this nation’s human resources,” she remarked.

Fauziyah believes that the existence of Pasker ID Goes to Campus and Forkomtinag will have a significant impact on the development of manpower in Indonesia.

The events were attended by several rectors from various universities in Indonesia.

Source: Antara News

The competition will also seek the designs of places of worship that surround Pancasila Lake

Jakarta The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) will organize an architecture design competition for government buildings in the new capital, Nusantara, an official from the ministry’s Directorate General of Human Settlement has confirmed.

“The PUPR Ministry has invited all residents to participate in the construction planning process to seek the best design (for government buildings), and the architecture design competition will be conducted simultaneously (for all selected buildings),” Director General of Human Settlement Diana Kusumastuti said at an online press conference in Jakarta on Saturday.

The contest participants will submit designs for the Vice Presidential palace and office compound, the parliamentary complex, and the judiciary compound for the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, and the Judiciary Commission, she informed.

“The competition will also seek the designs of places of worship that surround Pancasila Lake. The designs of places of worship will be contested as we have earlier determined the final design of the mosque for the new capital designed by architects and have been approved by President Joko Widodo,” she noted.

The director general expressed the hope that residents will submit designs for the church, cathedral, Hindu temple, Buddhist temple, and the Chinese temple to complement the new capital’s mosque.

The designs must fulfill key performance indicators of government buildings that have been determined in the new capital’s Government Core Area urban design document, she said.

The designs must also reflect the national identity, adhere to prevailing regulations on government buildings, and implement green building and ease of access concepts, she added.

The competition will be open from March 28 until April 8, 2022. The winners will be announced on June 24, 2022, and the contest prize will be awarded on June 27, 2022, the director general said.

A total of Rp3.4 billion (US$238 thousand) will be offered in prize money to 12 contest winners for all building design categories, Kusumastuti said. The first place winner will receive Rp500 million (US$35 thousand), the second place winner Rp250 million (US$17.5 thousand), and the third winner will get Rp100 million (US$7 thousand).

Source: Antara News